New Oregon head football coach Dan Lanning has offered a position to Oregon Director of Player Personnel and Director of Recruiting to remain on staff at Oregon under the same role, and sources have confirmed that Johnson has decided to stay on at Oregon.
Johnson signed his new contract with Oregon on Tuesday morning, which sources say is a multi-year deal to keep in Eugene for the long-term. This hire will be made official at a later time.
Johnson came to Oregon in January 2021 and instantly improved Oregon’s recruiting success in the 2021 cycle as well as the 2022 recruiting cycle. Johnson has deep connections beyond the 2022 recruiting class and will be an invaluable asset to Oregon’s recruiting and team efforts for years to come. Johnson played a key part in Oregon signing its best recruiting class in school history in 2021. The Duck class finished ranked No. 6 in the country and nearly every recruit signed by Oregon that year involved Johnson playing a figure role in their recruitment and signing with the Ducks. The 2022 class is also heavily influenced by the help and efforts from Johnson, and his retainment by Lanning will instantly help Oregon in its recruiting efforts.
Lanning said Oregon will go after the best players in the country in recruiting when he was introduced as head coach.
“To be really clear, we’re going to recruit the best and there’s the brand of Oregon has never been stronger, and we can go in any home and we can go attack and sign the best players here in the University of Oregon,” said Lanning. “That approach is not going to be a fast approach. That approach doesn’t just happen on Wednesday. Right? And we’re going to just kind of start with the players on this team currently the same thing I told our players yesterday. It starts with the guys that are here. Now, my phone is plugged in to answer your question and it’s going to be ringing and I’m going to be on from here all the way until signing day. And you know, I’m looking forward to connecting with every single person associated with our recruiting class. I know there’s some really strong players in here that I’m extremely excited about. My communications definitely already started but looking forward to building and strengthening those relationships. But we can go get any player in the nation with this place with our resources. So I’m excited to do that. And that’ll be our approach if the best players five minutes away, they’re we’re going to get the best player that’s five minutes away. If the best player is 13 hours away, then we’re gonna go 13 hours away to get the best player.”
Oregon’s current players highly respect and value Johnson’s involvement with the football program and is one of the most important pieces of the culture of the Oregon football program.
Prior to his time at Oregon, Johnson coached at previous high schools in the Portland area and was involved in putting on one of the largest recruiting camps for college coaches to evaluate on the west coast.
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